Sorting multiple classes by custom attribute

Wednesday 16 November 2005 4:24:54 am

Hi,

I have a number of classes which all have an attribute date_released which is a date object.

I am trying to retrieve the last 5 entries from any of these classes sorted by the date_released.

The code I am using is this:
{let recent=fetch( 'content', 'list', hash( 'parent_node_id', array(79,80,81,82,83,84,85,115), limit, 5, sort_by, array('attribute', false(), 'date_released') ) ) }

This however does not return a result. If I try the same query on just one class it also does not return a result.

The only way I have found so far to sort by the date_released attribute is using this:

{let recent=fetch( 'content', 'list', hash( 'parent_node_id', array(79,80,81,82,83,84,85,115), limit, 5, sort_by, array('attribute', false(), '186') ) ) }

Where 186 is the id of the date_released attribute in one specific class.
This however is not what i need as it only lists the contents of the one class.

I have read the documentation regarding sorting by custom attributes and if I understand correctly using the attribute name should work....but does not, only using the id of the desired attribute works.

Is this a bug? Am I doing something wrong... any ideas?

I am using ezpublish 3.6/3.7

Thanks
Lynn

Thursday 30 March 2006 6:38:46 am

So, returning to this problem, i will bump the post.

Original problem still stands, I want to sort multiple classes all by a date datatype called 'date_released'. Every class has this datatype (with the same name), but of course they have different id numbers.

This should not be so hard to do! Am I missing something?

Surely sorting by custom attributes should not be restricted to one class if the attributes are of the same type? Seems to me that this is a problem that many would encounter... or maybe not....

Anyone?

Thanks

Thursday 30 March 2006 7:14:08 am

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, although it was not wanted i was hoping to hear.

Any pointers as to why it is not possible? From what I understood from the documentaion, it seems possible, or at least is not explicitly deemed impossible. I will certainly add it to the enhancement list.

In the meantime, I am stuck with the same problem, 2 different classes need to display the last 10 from either class sorted by the date_released. Anybody have an idea of a work around which will point me in the right direction? Might it be possible to do 2 seperate selects, push the results into one array and then sort it?

Urgh, sounds complicated already.

Thanks.

Friday 31 March 2006 5:42:17 am

The documentation says: "Attribute sorting can only be used if the returned collection contains the same type of nodes".
Which means the nodes have to be of the same class.

See: http://ez.no/doc/ez_publish/technical_manual/3_6/reference/modules/content/fetch_functions/list

Wednesday 05 April 2006 2:16:17 pm

Hi!
This is some highly un-testet template code (with typos for free), that is supposed to loop through two arrays and sort them into a third array. As I said: I'm far from have tested it, but to make it work should require less time than making a custom fetch.

{let fetch1Array=fetch( 'content', 'list', hash(
       'parent_node_id', array(79,80,81,82,83,84,85,115), 
       'limit', 5, 
       'class_filter_type', 'include',
       'class_filter_array', array( 'class1' ),
       'sort_by', array( 'attribute', false(), 'class1/date_released' ) 
      ) ) 

   fetch2Array=fetch( 'content', 'list', hash(
      'parent_node_id', array(79,80,81,82,83,84,85,115), 
      'limit', 5, 
      'class_filter_type', 'include',
      'class_filter_array', array( 'class2' ),
      'sort_by', array( 'attribute', false(), 'class2/date_released' ) 
    ) ) 

   fetch1Count=sub( $fecth1Array|count, 1)
   fetch2Count=sub( $fecth2Array|count, 1)
   fetch1Iterator=0
   fetch2Iterator=0
   loop=true()
}

{let resultArray=array()}


{while $loop=true()}

   {if $fetch1Count|ge( $fetch1Iterator )}
      {if $fetch2Count|ge( $fetch2Iterator )}
          {if ge( $fetch1Array[$fetch1Iterator].data_map.date_released.content, $fetch2Array[$fetch2Iterator].data_map.date_released.content )}
             {set resultArray = $resultArray|append( $fetch1Array[$fetch1Iterator] ) }
             {set fetch1Iterator = sum( $fetch1Iterator, 1)}
          {else}
             {set resultArray = $resultArray|append( $fetch2Array[$fetch2Iterator] ) }
             {set fetch2Iterator = sum( $fetch2Iterator, 1)}
          {/if}

      {else}
          {set resultArray = $resultArray|merge( $fetch1Array|extract( sum( $fetch1Iterator, 1) ) )}
          {break}
      {/if}
           
   {else}
       {set resultArray = $resultArray|merge( $fetch2Array|extract( sum( $fetch2Iterator, 1) ) )}
       {break}
   {/if}


{/section}


{/let}

{* here you can use $resultArray *}

{/let}

Saturday 23 September 2006 10:17:46 am

I solved this problem with ArraySortOperator by Marc Boon.
http://ez.no/community/contribs/template_plugins/arraysortoperator

I use two arrays.
One is a collection of fetched nodes. [(A) array]
Another is an associative array for sorting. [(B) array]

The key of (B) array is index of (A) array.
And value of (B) array is an attribute for sorting.

After sorting (B) array with asort or arsort operator,
I can get sorted indexes of (A) array with 'foreach' structure.

For example, if multiple classes have 'pub_date' attribute...

{let list_items=array() sort_attributes=array()}
{set $list_items=fetch_alias(children, hash(parent_node_id, $node.node_id))}
{section var=child loop=$list_items}
	{set $sort_attributes = $sort_attributes|merge(hash($child.index, $child.data_map.pub_date.content.timestamp))}
{/section}
{set $sort_attributes = $sort_attributes|arsort()}
{foreach $sort_attributes as $index => $item}
	{$list_items.$index.data_map.pub_date.content.timestamp|datetime('mydate')} 
	{$list_items.$index.name}<br />
{/foreach}
{/let}